Subtle Side-Chain Engineering of Random Terpolymers for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells

Huo, Lijun; Xue, Xiaonan; Liu, Tao; Xiong, Wentao; Feng, Qi; Fan, Bingbing; Xie, Dongjun; Liu, Feng; Yang, Chuluo; Sun, Yanming

doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b00510

Cited by 64 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Therefore, in order to make a breakthrough both in J sc and FF to further improve the device performance of FTAZ‐based copolymers, the effect of side‐chain engineering on the device performance should be investigated and the branched alkyl substituent of FTAZ needs the rational design. In addition, side‐chain engineering has been verified to remarkably enhance the J sc and FF by fine‐tuning the morphological properties of the active layer . However, it was barely reported in the significant improvement of V oc .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ)‐Based Polymer Donor Enables Organic Solar Cells Exceeding 12% Efficiency

Liao

Xie

Chen

et al. 2019

Adv Funct Materials

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The fluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ)‐based copolymer donors are promising candidates for nonfullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs), but suffer from relatively low photovoltaic performance due to their unsuitable energy levels and unfavorable morphology. Herein, three polymer donors, L24, L68, and L810, based on a chlorinated‐thienyl benzodithiophene (BDT‐2Cl) unit and FTAZ with different branched alkyl side chain, are synthesized. Incorporation of a chlorine (Cl) atom into the BDT unit is found to distinctly optimize the molecular planarity, energy levels, and improve the polymerization activity. Impressively, subtle side chain length of FTAZ realizes a dramatic improvement in all the device parameters, as revealed by the short‐current density (Jsc) improved from 7.41 to 20.76 mA cm−2, fill‐factor from 36.3 to 73.5%, and even the open‐circuit voltage (Voc) from 0.495 to 0.790 V. The best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 12.1% is obtained from the L810‐based device, which is one of the highest values reported for FTAZ‐based PSCs so far. Notably, the corresponding external quantum efficiency curve keeps a very prominent value up to 80% from 500 to 800 nm. The notable performance is discovered from the reduced energy loss, improved molecular face‐on orientation, the down‐shifted energy levels, and optimized absorption coefficient regulated by side‐chain engineering.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ)‐Based Polymer Donor Enables Organic Solar Cells Exceeding 12% Efficiency

Liao

Xie

Chen

et al. 2019

Adv Funct Materials

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“…Huo and Sun et al reported the influence of subtle side chain engineering on the optical and electronic properties of random copolymers. They synthesized several copolymers (P87-P91) in which the subtle side chain regioregularity is used to finely tune the optical, electronic, and morphological properties 70 . P89 outperformed the other copolymers, with better mixing in fullerene or nonfullerene blends, and achieved high PCEs of 10.1 and 12.1%, respectively.…”

Section: Bdd-based Ternary Polymer Donorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benzodithiophenedione-based polymers: recent advances in organic photovoltaics

2020

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Over the past 20 years, significant progress has been made in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) due to its advantages of being cost-effective, being lightweight, and having flexible manufacturability. The optical-active layer of OPVs consists of a p-type polymer as the donor and an n-type small molecule as the acceptor. An efficient design strategy of a polymer donor is based on an alternating electron-donating unit (D) and an electron-accepting unit (A). Among numerous electron-accepting units, an emerging annelated thiophene of benzodithiophenedione (BDD) has exhibited a distinguished photovoltaic performance because of its planar molecular structure, low-lying highest occupied molecular orbit (HOMO) level and good self-assembly property. In this review article, we summarize the most recent developments in BDD-based photovoltaic materials. Special attention is paid to the chemical structure-property relationships, such as the absorption, bandgap, energy levels, mobilities, and photovoltaic performances. The empirical regularities and perspectives on the future development of BDD-based photovoltaic materials are included.

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“…[10,17,52,53] Considering the vigorous development in nonfullerene acceptors, side chain engineering for notable polymer donors should be more desirable. [54,55] Very recently, a new combinatory side chain strategy integrating an alkylthiol group and a siloxane terminal was demonstrated in our previous work. [55] Polymer CY1 with the newly emerging combinatory side chain can show extremely higher photovoltaic performance in nonfullerene-based device than in fullerene-based one.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved Average Figure‐of‐Merit of High‐Efficiency Nonfullerene Solar Cells via Minor Combinatory Side Chain Approach

et al. 2020

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The cost‐effectiveness of polymer solar cells is a very important concern for future applications. In this work, a new combinatory side chain integrating siloxane terminal and alkoxy group is developed, and three polymers, PQSi05, PQSi10, and PQSi25, with 5%, 10%, and 25% contents of the siloxane‐terminated alkoxy side chain, respectively, are successfully synthesized. As the content of the combinatory side chain increases, the surface energy of the corresponding polymer film decreases, showing tunable miscibility in blend films with nonfullerene acceptor IT‐4F. A maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.56% is achieved in the PQSi05:IT‐4F‐based device. The minor (5%) combinatory side chain approach retains a low synthetic complexity (SC) of 16.58% for PQSi05. Due to the improved device performance, a low figure‐of‐merit (FOM) of 1.22 is obtained for the PQSi05:IT‐4F blend. Furthermore, the contribution of the IT‐4F acceptor is considered for a comprehensive analysis, yielding an average SC (ASC) of 39.31% and an average FOM (AFOM) of 2.90. After statistical analyses and calculations, the PQSi05:IT‐4F is the best cost‐effective active layer to date. It is revealed that the introduction of the minor combinatory side chain is a promising strategy to develop high‐performing and cost‐effective polymer donors.

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Subtle Side-Chain Engineering of Random Terpolymers for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells

Cited by 64 publications

References 60 publications

Fluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ)‐Based Polymer Donor Enables Organic Solar Cells Exceeding 12% Efficiency

Fluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ)‐Based Polymer Donor Enables Organic Solar Cells Exceeding 12% Efficiency

Benzodithiophenedione-based polymers: recent advances in organic photovoltaics

Improved Average Figure‐of‐Merit of High‐Efficiency Nonfullerene Solar Cells via Minor Combinatory Side Chain Approach

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